MUNCIE, Ind. — A bag of patient information was lost for several days and recovered along McGalliard Road in Muncie, IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital has announced.

The bag contained billing paperwork for about 1,399 patients, according to the hospital, which is part of the IU Health network.

The bag was lost around Sept. 23 and IU Health learned of it on Sept. 26, the hospital said in an announcement. "It was immediately retrieved by IU Health and secured," the hospital said Friday.

After questions from The Star Press following up on the hospital's announcement, Michelle Altobella, chief privacy officer for IU Health and vice president and general counsel for IU Health Ball, said the records were found in a plastic bag that was being transported to the hospital "for proper disposal."

"All paperwork is believed to have been recovered and secured," Altobella said in an email response to The Star Press.

The hospital did not disclose who lost the bag of records, who found the records or if the person who found the bag looked through it.

According to IU Health, which reported that it conducted an internal investigation to determine what information was "potentially exposed," all of the records lost are "believed to have been recovered and secured."

"The paperwork may have contained patient names, dates of birth, physicians names, medical record numbers, diagnoses, procedures, gender and dates and times of service," the hospital said. "The papers did not contain medical records, financial information or Social Security numbers, and patients' medical records are not affected by this incident."

The loss and recovery of records affected some patients who had procedures at IU Health Ball Memorial and "surrounding facilities" between July 9, 2012 and April 25, 2017.

The hospital said IU Health "has no reason to believe the information has been improperly used," but as a precautionary measure began contacting patients on Friday.

In an online notice to patients, IU Health Ball said the bag was retrieved "within hours."

IU Health said it is reviewing policies and procedures to prevent a similar incident in the future and has implemented mandatory privacy and security training for employees.

In 1999, The Star Press recounted the story of a hospital maintenance worker who said he saw 30 garbage bags of patient medical files of a local physician thrown into Dumpsters in 1995, when the physician's medical office was closed. At the time, prosecutors said they couldn't find a state law that governed the disposal of medical files of former patients.

Keith Roysdon is the government watchdog reporter for The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5828 and kroysdon@muncie.gannett.com